


Danny Hyde: Five Reapings Whole

by TastingLatte



Series: Danny Hyde: The Timeless Series [5]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: 1900s, F/M, Family, Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler References, POV OC, POV Sebastian Michaelis, Romantic Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28516335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TastingLatte/pseuds/TastingLatte
Summary: It's time for Danny and Sebastian to turn their eyes back towards family - the Phantomhive's and their own. As time marches on into the early 1900s, both families change and learn their new places in society. Fifth arc of the Danny Hyde: Timeless Series
Relationships: Sebastian Michaelis/Original Character(s)
Series: Danny Hyde: The Timeless Series [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/773652





	Danny Hyde: Five Reapings Whole

**Author's Note:**

> Dearest Readers - thank you for your undying patience. I know life has gotten life-y for us all, and after moving for a new job, moving to a new space, living through 2020... I felt a need to come back to my writing and my (very cold) latte. *grin*
> 
> I present the FIFTH installment of Danny Hyde's story. If you missed a few, I'd recommend catching up... cause it's worth it!

Chapter 1: Sebastian POV

Danny's aim was perfect, of course. Her bullet landed in the tree, splintering it, splitting it down to the ground. She smirked as the Demon beside the tree gave a yelp and once more struggled against its bindings. I had paid the Undertaker for some of the supplies we now regularly carried when on assignments. Blessed Silver, a few yards of rope. A few other things I had been asked by my Master to see if I could acquire things to protect him and his family, and I had found a rather interesting Demon at the King's Bar who heartily sold me several more items I cared not to have in my possession. The sharp spear I now held, my hand wrapped in thick bandages to protect me from the item's burn was one of them. The pointed end, sliding into either Danny or I, and it would be a painful and long recovery. I slid into my Demon form, my claws slowly ripping the other Demon's body from navel up to his throat.

"I really don't enjoy being asked to come see the King of Hell," I hissed. Danny was now standing on the other side of the underling and she studied him, the inky blood seeping down and staining her dress as it moved across his legs. "I especially do not enjoy being disturbed at my Master's home, with my Mate and I attending to their needs."

"He… He… sends his regards to ring in a new year, Ma… Masters…" the Demon choked. A dark hiss and his body fell apart, seeping into the nothingness.

"I thought 1914 was a bad year," Danny muttered, waving her hand over her dress. The stains vanished and she looked at her gloves with a frown. "The young Master is late to getting to bed."

I leaned over and picked up the ropes and placed them back into the containers around the tree. I slid my hands over hers and I turned them and brought her now unblemished gloves to my lips. "The young Master seems to be getting late to many things," I said softly. "Dinner mostly as of late."

She blushed and looked at me. "Yes… he is a child no longer."

I placed a tender kiss on her forehead and turned back to the glow of the Manor lights. It was well into the morning of the first day of the New Year, and we had spent the night fighting off Demons in the forest around the Manor. I placed my hand in hers and we walked back; the New Year or any holiday of occasion was enough for most of the Demonic or even Angelic beings to move on their enemies. The hatred in Humans moved them to act impulsively; the anger in Heavenly and Hellish Beings was infinite and calculative.

A rippling went down our backs and I sighed, slipping my fingers from hers, as we both once more readied ourselves for the next attack. The Portals opening near the Manor grounds were always the first sign we were not dealing with Humans. I growled as I felt the Portal close but couldn't place how many had slipped through. Danny stopped walking and turned, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Reaper," she muttered. "Oh… it's William."

I turned and looked at the Reaper, the head of the London Department, the man who had signed Danny's file for Retirement, down… to Hell. He was the one I thanked and cursed for making such a lovely creature as Danny not my enemy any longer, but rather my lover for eternity.

William cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses as we approached. I let Danny take a step or two before me. I had always had an uneasy relationship with Reapers, as they did with me, and my kind. "Danny… um… Daniella."

"Danny is fine. Or Mr. Hyde, although I haven't been a 'Mister' in… well ever actually," she said. The words tumbling out of her mouth with ease. She was still treating him as if they were the same creature and I envied her natural grace.

"I'd hazard that you haven't been called 'Mister Hyde' for a long time because it is not true," William said. He looked at me and gave me a grave look. "I need to give you information."

I looked at him, startled. "Oh?"

"The Angels have been asking Reapers to collect the Demons… their Souls as well. We… we have been asked to find and slay them. Of course… a certain 'Michaelis' was on their lips several times." He looked at Danny, and nodded a bit to her. "And your name… more in confusion. Perhaps because of your, well, status, or relationship to, ah, him."

Danny gasped and looked at him and then at me, her head whipping back and her stance shifted ever so slightly, ready to pounce and defend. "And are you here -"

"To warn! Only to tell you," William said quickly. He eyed me and turned back to Danny. "You are sort of our… gap between us and," he jerked his head towards me, "them."

"Yet I am one of _them_ ," she pointed out. "I'm an _ex-_ one of you."

He sighed and pushed his glasses up once more, his hand resting on his hip, his Scythe retracted but within reach. My fingers twitched.

"Yes… and I am well aware of my part in that," he finally said. "Look, Danny, we at the Society - the London branch who knew you - all agree that you were rewarded," he said the word 'rewarded' as if it was as much ill fitted in his mouth as it was to label her, "and that you should be protected." He turned to me as if he remembered I was there. "And you… of course."

"Of course."

We stood at angles to one another and I looked over at Danny. "So the Angels… and Demons," she prompted. "They have contacted Sebastian, and the last time we were over on the mainland… an Archangel was there in the fight."

"An… Archangel?" William repeated, his words coming out slowly. He bit his lip and shook his head. "This is worse than I thought."

"Speak," I said, a bit forceful, but I didn't apologize. If Danny - and I - were in danger - if our Masters were in danger even if we were not - I would have to gather any supporters I could. I frowned; supporters? Who supported Danny and I, besides the Master?

"We were contacted a few weeks ago by a Messenger, I didn't know him." William looked at us and paused. "He said that the Hosts were moving to cleanse."

I gasped and pulled Danny behind me in a blink of an eye. I was not one of the Original Fallen, but I did Fall, and I remembered… things. Things from Above, when I wasn't as strong as I was now. I remembered the envy of those who could walk among Humans closer to when they were formed. I sighed. Those thoughts were mere flickers of a memory, and I summoned them now to be a bit clearer. My Mate was Born and only remembered her Human and Reaper days, because that was all she had. I had a few from my early Demonic days, fighting to become one who was sent for Souls. The whips and chains, the blood and screams… I licked my lips and felt the rising of the joy when one of the Demons just a bit above me vanished, pushing me up the ranks. I was a good Demon in the ranks, beloved even by the King of Hell. And when I walked among the Humans for the first time, I felt the power of God… I felt the longing I had seen and felt from Angels when they came back from even a visit - the glow of the Messenger Angels we basked in and asked for the stories of the flesh bodies, the creations that He loved.

"Sebastian," Danny's voice called, so soft and so near, and I broke from my spell and looked down at her. "Sebastian," she said again, her hands in my hair. I blinked and the sun was rising.

She pulled back a bit more and I looked around - William was gone, we were alone in the small arch of the wall surrounding the Manor grounds. The side gate was closed, locked, and I had lost track of time. I cleared my throat and fished out my pocket watch - "Oh dear, 6:16. I best wake the Master."

"Don't," Danny said, her hands sliding back up my arms as I placed the watch back. "Hold me. I need you here. And it's the second day of the New Year - I am sure the Earl and Lady Phantomhive are celebrating another year, and are still quite drunk." She pulled me closer. "Last I saw the Earl was drinking a bit too freely with some of the other Nobles in the smoking room."

I snorted and leaned into her, her solid body, her study frame, her soft curves. "I lost time."

"You were pretty far in your pretty head," she muttered. She kissed my cheek and smiled, her lips on my jaw. "William was worried you were zoned out and would not be able to be revived."

"I'm surprised he didn't attack."

"Oh, love," she sighed. "William came to warn us. He doesn't want to see Demons and Souls being gathered and basically killed." She pulled back and studied me. "What… were you thinking of?"

I looked down at her and placed a hand on her head and pressed her to my body. I had opened so much of myself in the past life, with the Master, with her… and I closed my eyes. "I wasn't always so glorious," I whispered. "At one point I was no better than the low Demons we are able to run through so cleanly." I pulled back and kissed her forehead. "Do you feel like doing something while we talk?"

She eyed me and slipped her hand into mine. "I would love to do things with you as we talk."

Her quiet gentleness and firm hand in mine made my feet on the Earth feel firm, steady, weighted where they should be. I was instantly reminded how much of an anchor she was to me, to my Hunger, to my very… Soul. As we walked down the path I had cleared to our home, I drew her closer and swung her up into my arms, kissing her softly.

"Well… I suppose we are feeling better," she laughed.

"A little. I'm better with you here, near."

She laid her head on my shoulder and sighed. "I've never felt safer."

I walked us into the study, overlooking the river and sat down. She curled into me and we said nothing, studying the outside, the garden we had both made, the one winter was claiming. I placed my right cheek on her forehead. "Humans have always been a draw for Angels, and those who couldn't resist, who wanted more than what we were offered, we fell further - banished. Some happily took the banishment, following the King of Hell, set up their own paradise on Earth, or further below. Try to make our own creations." I chuckled. "Demons can't have children with other Demons, so they took on the wayward and willing Humans, laying with them and producing some rather mean creatures. Angels did the same, but they weren't as lusty for the power and the separation, for their own slice. But they laid with Humans and produced some creatures as well."

She shifted and sighed. "I remember the sermons from the pulpit - do not be tempted to do things that will make you become the Devil's child. Do not lie - obey your parents - do not hit your siblings!" She listed them off in a mock preacher voice. "My father would pull us to sit before the fires in the winter, as we warmed, and would tell my brother and I that we would be fine no matter what we did, because nothing was so bad as what the Demons did to God. They decided to rebel and set up their own kingdom." She smiled a bit and leaned harder into me. "As long as we weren't plotting to set up a rival apple farm," she finished, giggling. She looked up at me and let out a small sigh, "Not the same thing."

I laughed. "Not evil enough to tempt me. Maybe a lesser Demon, but not one worthy of you." I kissed her and laid my cheek against her forehead again. "Reapers… they were an accident. A punishment because of what the Human did in their last moments - taking their own life. They weren't granted Heaven or Hell… rather…"

"To fight to keep the Souls that died from being snatched," I recited the Reaper Code.

I hummed a bit. Yes… the Balance. "And you watched for Demons, you watched for patterns, you watched for the moments that a Soul could have fallen, and didn't. A punishment - mainly for Demons and Reapers. Angels… they continued to walk among Men, being praised for good deeds, believed in for their showing up or 'divine' interventions." I paused, hearing the bitterness in my voice. I had been a low Angel, and thus started as a low Demon. I had worked hard to become the powerful being I was. Souls gleaned, Angel-faced, outwitted a few Reapers. I had thrown them to the King and he had raised my status further. And then….

"Sebastian?"

I looked at her. I did hate thinking about the past. But now the past was very much begging to be the present. "The reason why the Angels and Demons may hate me, yes. There was another battle for Heaven, a revolution down here among the Humans was a great disguise, and a great cleansing. Perhaps you remember the Plague?" She looked at me in surprise. "Yes, not everything is as simple as it seems. A little poison here, a bit of calling and trapping Reapers here. Souls littering the valley and streets. Humans can be so disgusting. So fragile. And we took advantage. Took to the streets and houses, dropping some low Demons with rather nasty things, pestilence, fear, greed among those who were lofty and thought they could run. I walked among a few of them, had a Contract or two with a few Nobles. They soon found their way into my arms, surrendering to the fate they had sealed. They begged the clergy, the clergy begged the Angels, and - voila - Heaven's gates were cracked. And we could choose. Side with the King of Hell and invade, or stay back, wallow with Humanity." I closed my eyes and saw myself standing before the King, my decision leaving my lips with confidence. "I was no fool even then. The Demons he sent were not going to enter an eternal life of bliss. I chose Humanity - to stay with Humans. To become… one who paid with Souls for my reluctance to be destroyed in the name of the Grand Design the King thought he had perfected."

I snarled and shook my head. Danny slid from my arms and cupped my face, dragging it to look up at her. My eyes slid slower to meet her bright red ones. "So the Angels should be thanking you for not beating down their gates. I get why the King of Hell hates you, but the Angels?"

I snorted and wrapped my arms around her and slowly stood. "Oh we got a few Angels who figured if we were attacking - even if not their gates, but the precious Humans - we were fair game to destroy and set asunder as well. I was able to dodge most, convince them I was simply a Contract Demon, a bit lower in the food chain than now, and I was only eating the Soul I Marked. They let me wander for a while. Until I did something to the Angels they could not overlook." I rested my head on hers and smiled wistfully. "I cut off their wings. I took their Grace. I took their untainted Glory and ripped them away with my own hands. Destroying them from going to Heaven. They were now the middle ground - the equals to the dirty Reapers. Yet had no power to take or weigh Souls. I… I dear lover, and a few others, made a few lofty Angels as low as they could go."


End file.
